he Boston Red Sox lost to the Tampa Bay Rays on Sunday and now they head into a series against the Toronto Blue Jays with their position in the playoff standings in flux.

The team is barely ahead of the Cleveland Guardians and Houston Astros in the wild card standings, though the trio holds a sizable lead over the Texas Rangers on the outside looking in. It’s far from clear who the Red Sox might play in October but, with an off day on Monday, the team focused on setting itself up for whatever that playoff position might be by making a notable change with franchise ace Garrett Crochet.

As they prepared for a series against the divisional rival Toronto Blue Jays, the Red Sox used an off day to set up Crochet for five days of rest leading into their first potential matchup of the playoffs.

“The Red Sox’ postseason fate remains uncertain, but there’s no question about who the team will ask to take the ball in Game 1 of a potential wild-car series: Garrett Crochet,” Alex Speier wrote for The Boston Globe. “The Sox reconfigured their rotation for the forthcoming series in Toronto, flip-flopping Brayan Bello and Crochet. Bello is being pushed back a day to get six days of rest for a start Thursday, while Crochet will pitch on four days of rest Wednesday.

There was never really a doubt that the Red Sox would want Crochet to lead their playoff push, but the extra rest could suddenly be necessary as he fades slightly after setting a career-high for total innings this season. Crochet has a 2.27 ERA on five days of rest this season, and a 3.58 ERA on four days of rest.

And the Red Sox will likely need him at his best form as the rest of the rotation has struggled comparatively. Bello and Lucas Giolito both have ERAs in the mid-3.00 range and no other pitcher has more than 11 starts so far this year.

So, with a playoff berth relatively set, the Red Sox have emphasized their upcoming playoff matchup, whatever it might hold, in this final stretch of the regular season.